Adil Najam
We at ATP like books. Over the last many months we have featured and discussed a number of books that relate to Pakistan in various ways.
I must confess that I had always hoped that we would talk more about books than we have. I hope we will be able to do so in the future. As a step towards that goal, we would like to invite our readers to share with us your suggestions of books on Pakistan that are worth reading.
This is not a popularity contest. We have no awards to give. We merely want to collate a list of books on Pakistan that people consider to be interesting reads. Specially those that you would consider recommending to others for whatever reason.
We have only two criteria:
- First, that the books you suggest must be about Pakistan, and significantly so. We, of course, realize that many Pakistanis read many books that are not about Pakistan, but the focus of this blog is not only on ‘All’ Things Pakistan, but also ‘Only’ things about Pakistan.
- Second, for the purpose of this first exercise please restrict your suggestions to books in the English language. This is a pragmatic, and not an ideological, criteria. The universe of books in Urdu is much larger – especially when one includes works of fiction and poetry – and hopefully we will have a separate exercise on those. For now, we wish to start small by focusing only on English language books.
The plan right now is to make this post and list a standing feature and to keep adding to it as readers share their suggestions and ideas. Hopefully this will be a useful service to those interested in Pakistan and Pakistaniat.
@Khurram Farooqui. Manto is not a required study in schools yet. Atleast not in Sindh and atleast not upto and including Grade XII. May be if someone goes for advanced degree in Urdu at University level then Manto may be required study. Am not sure about that.
“In Other Rooms, Other Wonders” by Daniyal Mueenuddin
– A relatively recent collection of short stories.
“The Reluctant Fundamentalist” by Mohsin Hamid
– same guy who wrote “Moth Smoke”
“Freedom at Midnight” by Lapierre and Collins
– This was mentioned in an earlier post but it holds special meaning for me because this was the first book I read, back when I was in school, which made me realize that there is another side to the story besides what we learned in school. A bit biased against Jinnah, but still an important read.
“Selected Stories” by Saadat Hasan Manto.
– Can be found in English, although better to read in Urdu. This should really be required reading in school. Maybe it is?
Three Cups of Tea – undoubtedly most inspiring book about the work done by someone in Pakistan
I think a lot of new books have come since this was first posted some years ago, especially in English fiction by Pakistani authors.
Ice-Candy Man by Bapsi Sidhwa is one of the books that I had the pleasure to read recently,and it was both powerful and educational. Yes, it is old – but the current Pakistani youth needs to read more about the Partition. I might have recommended Freedom At Midnight but shamefully I have not read it myself and it is not solely about Pakistan after all.
Ice-Candy Man, though, focuses on the events in Lahore and shows a nation torn apart with the pain that we in Pakistan (who often take our freedom for granted) have forgotten.